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Matthew Baker
Staff Sergeant Matthew Baker, is the main character in Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, a secondary character in Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood and again the main character in Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway. Biography Matt Baker is a soft-spoken young man who grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. When the war started he volunteered to be a paratrooper, but never expected to lead his squad. Early Life Matthew Baker was the son of Colonel Joseph and Julia Baker and was born at Fort Benning, Georgia on February 22, 1921. His parents divorced in 1929 when Matt was only eight. On the day he left, Joseph presented Matt with a custom made, nickel plated, Colt M1911 inscribed "To Matthew: Brothers in Arms". Julia came from a wealthy family and military life did not agree with her, so Matt had to give it back to his father. Colonel Joseph Baker continued to be assigned around the US Army posts in the US, Panama, and China. Matt only communicated with his father on rare visits and through letters. Baker grew up with his mother in St. Louis, Missouri during the Great Depression. When Matt was at High School, he became close friends with George Risner. They both graduated from high school in 1939 and enlisted in the US Army on June 9th 1939, the day after they graduated from high school. Matt then took the Colt M1911 pistol back from his father, and took it to war with him. Early Military Career After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Matt and George volunteered for the newly activated airborne divisions of the United States Army. They went through basic training together and both wanted to join the paratroopers. Unfortunately, George broke his leg in basic training and was put into another training class. Matt volunteered for the paratroopers and trained at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was assigned to the 3rd Squad of the 3rd Platoon of Fox Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 502nd Parachute Infantry of the 101st Airborne division, two weeks before D-Day. Sergeant Saunderson, the squad leader of 3rd Squad broke his arm in a practice parachute jump and Platoon Sergeant; Greg "Mac" Hassay (who knew Baker's father) promoted Corporal Matt Baker to Sergeant and placed him in charge of 3rd squad. Road To Hill 30 On June 6, 1944, Baker and his squad parachuted into Normandy. However, as his squad was waiting for the green light to begin the jump, the C-47 was hit by FLaK, killing Private Muzza (3rd Squad's first casualty) and knocking Baker out of the plane. In his first near- death experience, Baker was able to deploy his parachute and landed safely. After he found the nearest road he found "Mac" Hassay and fought with him for most of D-Day. Throughout the campaign, Baker leads his squad through various battles that claim the lives of most soldiers in 3rd Squad, including the capture of Objective XYZ and of Vierville, Purple Heart Lane, Cole's Charge, the Battle of Carentan, and the defense of Hill 30 on the outskirts of Carentan. To read about Baker's story throughout the game, visit the articles on the levels of Road To Hill 30. During the battle on Hill 30, Baker was knocked to the ground by a tank shell and a piece of shrapnel from the explosion left a prominent scar on his forehead. Whilst the other soldiers were fighting, Baker managed to contact the tanks and bring them back to the battle, going round the back and wiping out the German forces. He and the remaining members of the squad went back to Carentan, Baker carrying the dead body of a fellow soldier, Kevin Leggett. He is then present outside Carentan Cathederal where the promotions take place, and where it was cut short by German mortar fire. Earned In Blood Baker appears as a supporting role in Earned In Blood, and he guides and helps Hartsock throughout Carentan. Baker is first seen during "Three Patrol Action". Afterwards, Baker appears at the end when Baker and Hartsock tell their stories to Army historian Col. S.L.A. Marshall. that he is paralyzed.]] Hell's Highway Baker is again the protagonist in Hell's Highway. After Normandy, Baker's platoon is folded into a brand new Reconnaissance platoon. The recon platoon relies on their jeeps for fast movement through the battlefields to recon and harass enemy positions. The squad is broken up to two teams assigned into jeeps. Baker is now suffering from too much guilt, and is seeing ghosts of his dead squad members that are haunting him, mostly Leggett. He is then forced by Dawson to tell his men that he knew what had happened to Allen and Garnett in Normandy. The men almost lose their trust in Baker, but after a speech he gives in the final cutscene, all except Corrion, stand by him. Baker also seems to finally have enough with the rumors about his supposed "cursed" pistol and throws it into the woods during his final speech, declaring, "It's just a goddamn gun!" 3rd Squad Baker's squad is a traditional paratrooper squad consisting of twelve soldiers, jokingly called "Baker's Dozen." Baker's soldiers include: Normandy Squad Fire Team *Corporal Hartsock *Private First Class Obrieski in "Tom and Jerry" *Private First Class Zanovich *Private Allen in "Buying The Farm" *Private Garnett in "Buying The Farm" *Private Muzza in "Rendezvous With Destiny" Assualt Team *Corporal Corrion *Private First Class Courtland *Private McCreary *Private Desola in "Purple Heart Lane" *Private Rivas in "Purple Heart Lane" Other Members *Staff Sergeant "Mac" Hassay *Private Kevin Leggett in "Hill 30" Casualties *Private Muzza was killed by a piece of flak in his chest. *Privates Allen and Garnett are both killed during a flanking maneuver against an enemy held farm. *Private Rivas was killed by a sniper on Purple Heart Lane. *Private Desola was killed by a Stuka dive bomber while trying to squeeze through the gate on Purple Heart Lane. *Private First Class Obrieski was killed by a sniper during the defense of the cathedral in downtown Carentan. *Private Leggett was killed by a tank shell burst during the defense of Hill 30. On top of the deaths in his own squad, Baker's best friend George Risner was killed when his tank was hit by a Panzerfaust anti-tank weapon. Holland Squad Fire Team *Corporal Zanovich *Technician Holden *Private First Class McCreary Assault Team *Corporal Corrion *Private First Class Dawson *Private LaRoche in "The Rabbit Hole" Support Team *Private First Class Courtland *Private First Class Jasper *Private First Class Connor Casualties Pvt. LaRoche, was killed by a German whilst running away with a Dutch girl. His body was left in the burning abandoned hospital. Cpl. Corrion was shot in the chest during battle, but survived due to treatment from Dr. Gideon. Hartsock, although not in Baker's squad in Holland, was paralyzed by a mortar, and was sent home, because he would never walk again. After War After the war he began to suffer from severe depression. In 1973 he attempted suicide by car crashed into a tree. He survived and remained in a psychiatric hospital. In 1980 he was released back to his home. It is speculated that he did this because of the visions and hallucinations he kept seeing of his dead soldiers. In 2001, he visited Fort Benning where he was born, and he began to live a very ascetic life and shun the people. He decided to write the book he promised to Red during the war. In between all this he moved to New York City during the mid-forties and got married. The reason he moved to New York City was so he could find Leggets family and grave so he could pay his respects. Even though he never managed to publish the book he kept it any way and showed his son's the book he wrote and then it went on generation to generation. Eventually sometime around the 2000's or 1990's one of Bakers great grandson's decided to take this book and make it into a video game called Brothers In Arms (Which Is What Baker called his book.) to show the true horrors of World War 2 through Baker's eyes. Of course by then Baker was too old to care for such things because after he wrote the book Baker's hallucanation's of his dead comrades faded away because Baker Felt 'Complete' in a way after writing the book. Eventually on Christmas Day 2011, Baker aged 91, died of old age. Relationships Joe Hartsock Baker and Red have been best friends ever since the war began. Their friendship develops throughout the games, each being together as a pair in the early missions of Road To Hill 30. The two then go and and soldier through Normandy. As the events of Hell's Highway happen, Baker and Red's friendship begins to deteriorate. Hartsock senses that Baker is hallucinating, and the two tend to argue more. When Hartsock is injured, Baker is distraught, but Hartsock is hurt that Baker didn't tell the squad about what happened with Leggett. Baker says that Hartsock is his best friend. Samuel Corrion Baker says that Corrion has never disobeyed an order that Baker has given to him. Sam respects Baker and they both have a good friendship. The two were corporals together and they battled through Normandy together. In Hell's Highway, their friendship is put to the test when Corrion tries to persuade Franky to not run after the Dutch girl, but he does and gets himself killed. Baker blames Corrion responsible, but deep down he blames himself. Therefore, he makes Paddock sergeant instead of Corrion. Corrion is also disgusted when he finds out the secret Baker kept from the squad and says that they will never fight again. Hell's Highway ends with Baker finishing his speech and Corrion walking away, leaving a cliff hanger. Greg Hassay Mac guides Baker throughout Normandy and has a large amount of respect for Baker because he fought with his father years ago. Mac promotes Baker as sergeant, and has a reasonable amount of favoritism for him. The two have an equal amount of respect for each other and they both hold the secret about Leggett, Mac telling Baker not to tell anyone, but Baker rebelling and telling the squad. Mac seems annoyed about this and the two are left on a sour note. Kevin Leggett Leggett was the squads radio commander, and mainly stuck with Mac throughout the missions. Leggett puts a lot of trust into Baker, and cries for help when Allen and Garnett are killed. Baker forced Leggett to keep the incident with Allen and Garnett a secret but this resulted in Leggett going mad and more or less committing suicide. Baker is haunted by the ghost of Leggett (or possibly a figment of his imagination) who is unkind to Baker, being verbally abusive and sarcastic. It is unknown whether this is Legget's actual ghost, or just Baker's mind playing tricks on him. The ghost follows him throughout Hell's Highway and you frequently see him in various places throughout Eindhoven. George Risner {C Risner and Baker are best friends. They have been since high school and they volunteered for the U.S. Army after graduating. Because of a knee injury during basic training, Risner was unable to join the paratroops and was separated from his friend Matt. Risner joined the tank corps instead, and became the commander of an M5 Stuart tank in the 70th Tank Battalion. Risner was scheduled to land at Utah beach and agreed to link up with Baker in Normandy after D-Day. He is the fourth character in Road To Hill 30 to be killed. 3rd Squad Baker cares for his squad. This is proven when he is deeply affected by the deaths of Leggett, Allen, Garnett and Franky, for whom Baker feels responsible for. He describes McCreary as 'still kind of an asshole'. Trivia *Baker was voiced by Troy Baker, the surname is purely coincidental, and the character was named before the actor was cast to play his role. *Even though he is their superior, some of the men in Baker's squad are older than him. *Baker's father died while holding his pistol. A pistol that is believed to be "cursed" because everyone who has touched the pistol has died. *Baker's father was a Quad.50 operator. *He thinks that he and Hartsock should write a book about the war. *Baker is the only person who survives with the death pistol. Category:3rd Squad Category:Characters Category:Survivors